Hero

f o u r

Lenora barely slept that night. She tossed and turned the entire time. No matter what, she couldn't fall asleep. It was almost as if she had something in her soul screaming at her that something bad would happen. She'd be lying if she said that the idea of uprooting everything in order to go to the CDC didn't terrify her. In fact, she was pretty sure that Daryl was kept awake by her movements. But if he was, he didn't say anything. 

With very few hours of sleep, Lenora woke up. Her body felt like it was barely functioning, like she was one of the walkers. She slowly exited the tent and met the group by the fire pit. 

They were making last minute adjustments to the plan. Daryl handed Lenora half of his granola bar that she graciously took. "Thank you." She smiled. 

"Figured you might be hungry," He said before smirking. "considering you couldn't stay still last night."

"Oh, I'm sorry if I kept you up." Lenora said shyly before Daryl brushed it off. 

"Don't worry 'bout it." He told her. "I'm a light sleeper anyways." 

Before she could reply to the man, the gruff voice of Shane spoke. "Alright everybody, listen up!"

"Those of you with C.B.'s, we're gonna be on Channel 40." He told the group holding a shotgun near his waist.  "Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now, you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the Caravan. Any questions?" 

"We're uh, not going." Morales spoke up causing heads to turn.

"We have family in Birmingham." His wife told Shane and Rick. "We want to be with our people."

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane told them and Lenora rolled her eyes. 

Of course they knew that. Lenora was sure that they had every possible risk run through their minds a thousand times over before making their final decision. Yet, they'd made their decision. Shane should respect that.

Lenora watched as the men discussed Morales' plan some more. Rick then handed him an extra gun from the bag they'd brought back. Daryl scoffed, turning his back. The group, excluding Lenora for she hadn't gotten the chance to bond with the family,  said their goodbyes to the group.

Then, one by one, each piled into the cars as they headed off to the CDC.

"You riding with me Lee?" Daryl asked Lenora. She looked around the group, deciding there was no better place for her other than with Daryl and nodded. They climbed into the man's pickup truck. A motorcycle was strapped onto the bed of the pickup and Lenora examined it with awe. 

"I like the bike," She said nodding towards it. "it's your isn't it?"

"Was my brothers." The man replied to her gruffly. 

She only nodded awkwardly. He rolled the windows down, letting a cool breeze brush over them. Lenora leaned her head onto the doorframe with her arm from the elbow down hanging over the side of the door. 

She watched the trees as they passed by, if it weren't for seeing the occasional walker and riding with Daryl, whom was a practical stranger yet had one of the friendliest souls she'd ever met, despite his rough appearance and attitude. Then this car ride would almost seem like a normal one. Like the world hadn't gone straight to hell. 

Suddenly, she heard a honk and the R.V. begin to slow down to a stop. The group began to pile out and she thought about staying in the truck, but she figured that if she was going to be in this group that she couldn't be the loner she wanted to be. Lenora would try to include herself as minimal as possible.